γειά σου! Hello! It is day 5 of my adventures through Greece and Turkey! It has been truly incredible to say the least! We have been to Athens, Istanbul, Ephesus, Patmos, and now we are in a small island called Syros! After departing from Athens on Friday afternoon, we arrived at Istanbul on Saturday morning. We visited the Basilica of the Epiarch, went and explored at the Grand Bazaar, and went to Mass at The Church of St. Anthony. The priest there was from Nigeria and explained to us that the Catholics in Istanbul are not allowed to live their faith openly there. He cannot even wear his clerics out of the church. We spent the evening exploring the culture there in Istanbul. It was such an incredible experience! On Sunday we had another day in Istanbul. We went to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom). Both were beautiful! It was interesting to see the Muslim culture, rather than the Catholic culture that is more familiar to me. Hagia Sophia used to be a Greek Orthodox Church but was later turned into a Mosque, at which time the Catholic mosaics were covered with plaster. Today, the Hagia Sophia is just a museum but it was a beautiful place to visit. On Monday we arrived in Izmir and went to visit Ephesus. Our first stop was the house where Mary lived with St. John. It was one of the most beautiful things to pray a decade of the Rosary together with the rest of the group from BC and sing the Salve Regina together in the place where Mary once lived. After we left Mary's house we went to Ancient Ephesus. There is a huge ancient amphitheater there where we gathered and sang the BC fight song proudly!!! It was SO awesome! Then we saw the Church of Mary where the third Ecumenical Council was held and Mary was called the Theotokos! (I knew that thanks to Ms. Garnem!) We finished the day at the Basilica of St. John and got to visit his tomb. Early this morning we arrived in Patmos, where John was exiled and where he wrote the Book of Revelation. We got to visit the cave where he lived while he wrote the book and then made our way up the mountain to the Monastery of St. John, a Greek Orthodox Church. Tomorrow we are off to Rhodes and then we will visit Crete and Santorini before we head to the lovely Italia! I pray for you all on every step of this journey!